Moderna Shares Soar on Positive Results on Early Stage Coronavirus Vaccine Trial

Shares of Moderna were surging in Monday’s trading session after the company revealed positive data on its early stage coronavirus vaccine trial.

The early stage human trial for a coronavirus vaccine had produced antibodies in all of its 45 participants. At day 43, or two weeks after the second dose, levels of binding antibodies in the 25 microgram group were at the levels generally seen in blood samples from people who recovered from the disease.

Each participant in the trial had received a 25, 100 or 250 microgram dose, with 15 people in each dose group. The phase 1 trial took place at the Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute in Seattle.

According to the company, those in the 100 microgram had antibodies that “significantly exceeded levels” in recovered patients. Data on a second dose was not available for the 250 microgram group.

“These interim Phase 1 data, while early, demonstrate that vaccination with mRNA-1273 elicits an immune response of the magnitude caused by natural infection starting with a dose as low as 25 [micrograms],” Moderna chief medical officer Dr. Tal Zaks stated.

“When combined with the success in preventing viral replication in the lungs of a pre-clinical challenge model at a dose that elicited similar levels of neutralizing antibodies, these data substantiate our belief that mRNA-1273 has the potential to prevent COVID-19 disease and advance our ability to select a dose for pivotal trials,” Zaks added.

Moderna is the very first company to release data on a human trial testing a coronavirus vaccine.
The company expects to begin a phase 3 trial in July.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) and have not been compensated for this article.